Bios of CCEAC Executive team

Patrice Poitevin is the Co-Founder and  Executive director of the Canadian Centre of Excellence for Anti-Corruption (CCEAC).

Mr. Poitevin is a 35 years veteran of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and retired in October 2017 where he was the subject matter expert on Anti-Corruption and compliance for the RCMP. He has also worked on organized crime and white-collar crime investigations.  He is an internationally recognized expert on anti-corruption, corporate ethics and compliance and is sought as a speaker, lecturer and trainer on anti-corruption, ethics, compliance, fraud and money laundering. Mr. Poitevin also has extensive experience in program development and capacity building at the national and international level.

In his previous role as senior investigator and outreach coordinator for the Sensitive and International Investigations unit of National Division, Mr. Poitevin’ s mandate was to connect with Canadian businesses to help them mitigate their risk and exposure to bribery and corruption. Mr. Poitevin worked with private and public organizations to advised them on tools, strategies, and good practices to increase their capacity to prevent, detect and manage corruption risk and enhance the role of those organizations in fighting corruption and financial crime. As part of his mandate, he evaluated the effectiveness and thoroughness of compliance programs of companies under investigation.

His experience, expertise and passion for anti-corruption, corporate ethics and compliance led him to develop and being the co-founder of the Canadian Centre of Excellence for Anti-Corruption (CCEAC). The CCEAC is a university connected not-for-profit entity  focussed on sharing best practices and assisting public and private organizations tackle corruption, compliance and ethical issues. The CCEAC encourages information sharing and a multi-sectorial approach to finding solutions and assisting public and private organizations while engaging the next generation of leaders to take an active role in tackling the issues and improving the organizational culture by promoting ethical governance and robust compliance measures.

International development, capacity building and international standards

As a subject matter expert and CCEAC co-founder, Mr. Poitevin has been working with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) in sharing his expertise with other countries to help improve their anti-corruption capacity. As such, Mr. Poitevin has travelled to Colombia, Ecuador and Indonesia and is providing on-going assistance, training, advice and support in improving their anti-corruption measures and in establishing a Centre of Excellence for Anti-Corruption modelled on the CCEAC in these 3 countries. He has worked as a trainer and advisor to the Tunisian Anti-Corruption commission (INLUCC) under a capacity building project funded by the German development agency (GIZ).

He has also been sought to work with other countries on corruption related training and capacity building initiatives. This includes a Global Affairs supported project in Burkina Faso with the Global NGO IMPACT where Mr. Poitevin was engaged as the project SME to help develop and implement an updated regulatory and enforcement framework to tackle corruption related issues in the artisanal mining sector.

Mr. Poitevin was part of Canadian project committee (PC278) involved in the development of the ISO 37001 Anti-Bribery management system standard and the UN Global Compact Network Canada Working Group that created the Anti-Corruption E-book. He is also a member of Transparency International Canada, a Certified Anti-Corruption manager (CACM – USA), an accredited Trace Anti-Bribery Specialist (TASA) and a member of Transparency International Expert Network. Mr. Poitevin is also an active member of the Standards Council of Canada’s mirror committee MC/ISO/TC 309 – Organizational Governance (which provides guidance on the governance of organizations, anti-bribery management systems, and whistleblowing). He is also part of the of the Canadian mirror committees of MC/ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42 – Artificial intelligence as well as the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 40 – IT Service Management and IT Governance.

Marc Y. Tassé is a globally recognized expert on corporate misconduct, crisis response, and ethical leadership, who has extensive experience as an independent special advisor to various board chairs and CEOs of corporations and organizations, federal and provincial departments, agencies and crown corporations. He advises on “high profile and sensitive cases” related to alleged corruption, fraud, money laundering, financial misconduct, conflict of interest, and breach of fiduciary duty.

Mr. Tassé advises senior leaders and other key stakeholders of major corporations, foreign and domestic governments, and NGOs on corporate governance and risk management issues. He also oversees preventative measures and create sustainable action plans.

Mr. Tassé helps clients to manage legal, reputational and operational risks and to achieve best standards both nationally and internationally. He advises Canadian and international corporations and organizations on compliance with anti-corruption legislation and policies in force at the municipal, provincial, federal and international levels.

As an investigative and forensic accountant and also as a member of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators, Mr. Tassé has well-established experience in matters that involve misappropriation of funds, fraudulent financial transactions, and tracing and recovery of stolen funds.

Mr. Tassé examines domestic and transnational financial crime from different angles and explores what motivates people to break the law, how wrongdoers cover their tracks, what can be done to put a stop to the looting, and the importance of Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics and Machine Learning for fraud/corruption prevention and detection.

Corporate governance, enterprise risk management, and reputational risk mitigation

Mr. Tassé possesses extensive knowledge in the areas of corporate governance, enterprise risk management, and reputational risk mitigation. He advises private and publicly-traded companies in designing, building and embedding the Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) framework. To reassure boards, C-level executives, and investors, Mr. Tassé conducts risk-assessment analysis, proposes effective and efficient risk-mitigation solutions, delivers keynote addresses on ethics and compliance-related topics, and conducts ethics and compliance training and outreach.

With his unique expertise, Mr. Tassé helps companies manage and oversee their global anti-corruption compliance programs, including developing and implementing an annual compliance plan and risk assessment.

mtasse@uottawa.ca

Louis-Martin Richer is the National Claims Advocacy Leader for the Construction, Engineering and Surety Practice and Regional Strategic Advisor for the Eastern Region. 

Louis-Martin is a results-driven executive who delivers business outcomes through collaboration and partnership with internal as well as external stakeholders. Drawing on his broad and deep legal, risk management and governance knowledge and experience, Louis-Martin brings not only expert but also pragmatic solutions to business issues in global markets while successfully interacting and leading initiatives with diverse teams across the world. 

EXPERIENCE

 Louis-Martin has Bachelor degrees both in Political Science and Law from Université de Montréal. Before joining Marsh in October 2017,  he served as the Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer for WSP Global Inc. He has practised law in top tier law firms in the commercial, insurance and construction sectors on both contracts and complex claims issues.  

Louis-Martin is a sought-after speaker on matters such as ESG, enterprise risk management, compliance, governance and professional liability. He has lectured at McGill University and at Bar of Quebec where he is still active.  Louis-Martin has been a long time advocate for robust ethics, compliance and anti-corruption programs. In addition to being a member of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies’ contracts committee, he has been an honorary chairman and a member of the panel expert of the Canadian Center of Excellence for Anti-Corruption since its inception. . He is also a member of the Canadian Standardization Advisory Committee on ESG and Sustainability. 

Louis-Martin is very active in his community supporting a number of non-profit organizations in Montreal.

Noah Arshinoff is a lawyer, professor, consultant, and advocacy strategist specializing in anti-corruption and trade with experience in the public, private, and association sectors. He has successfully advocated for amendments to various pieces of anti-corruption legislation and policy including strengthening Canada’s Integrity Framework, bolstering the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act and implementing Canada’s remediation agreement regime through an amendment to the Criminal Code. Noah has written numerous submissions to government and appeared before Parliamentary Committees to provide testimony on a wide range of issues.

Noah teaches Anti-Corruption law at the University of Ottawa and McGill University in both English and French. His courses focus on the practical, real-world elements of combatting corruption.
On the International level, Noah has contributed to the implementation of anti-corruption commitments under the OECD’s monitoring program and helped bring policies in line with their requirements. He has consulted for the European Union on matters related to the Canada-EU Free Trade Agreement and has worked on cross-border issues related to CUSMA.

As a thought leader in the field of anti-corruption, Noah was selected as a knowledge partner for the 2020 OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum to present a research paper on “Re-imagining Corporate Punishment on a Multilateral Scale”. He has since been selected to present further research on the topic of tackling corruption via Supranational mechanisms at an Anti-Corruption Symposium to be hosted by the World Bank Office of Suspension and Debarment, the OECD, and the American Society of International Law in April 2022.

Noah sits on various legal and policy-oriented bodies such as Transparency International-Canada’s Legal Committee and the Canadian Bar Association’s Anti-Corruption Team. He has written for various publications including National Magazine, CCCA Magazine and Canadian International Lawyer.